Massive Rally in Bolivia Draws One Million Protesters

A massive rally was held today in Bolivia to protest against a decision to move the capital from La Paz to Sucre.Bolivians march towards the city of El Alto to attend a rally to demand the executive branch of government to remain in the highlander city of La Paz, Bolivia on Friday, July, 20, 2007. An assembly currently rewriting Bolivia’s constitution has proposed returning the government to its former seat in Sucre, southern Bolivia.(AP Photo/Juan Karita)

One of the largest protests ever in Bolivian history took place in La Paz today as up to a million people rallied to protest efforts to relocate the government.The Daily Comet reported:

LA PAZ, Bolivia Hundreds of thousands of people packed the streets of La Paz on Friday to protest efforts to relocate Bolivia’s capital in one of the largest demonstrations in the history of the Andean country.

Aerial television images showed city residents and Aymara Indians bused in from the surrounding countryside standing shoulder to shoulder along miles of city streets, waving both Bolivian and La Paz state flags.

La Paz state Gov. Jose Luis Paredes told The Associated Press that the crowd surpassed a million people.

“The response of the people has been greater than we thought,” Paredes said.

La Paz is home to the government’s executive and legislative branches, while Sucre, a sleepy colonial city 255 miles to the southeast, houses the country’s highest courts.

Tens of thousands of Bolivians march towards the city of El Alto to attend a rally to demand the executive branch of government to remain in the highlander city of La Paz, Bolivia on Friday, July, 20, 2007. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

An aerial view of a gathering on the streets of El Alto, near La Paz July 20, 2007. Hundreds of thousands of Bolivians took to the streets on Friday to reject a proposal to move the seat of government from La Paz in one of the biggest ever demonstrations in the South American country. (REUTERS)

Supporters of Marxist leader Evo Morales earlier in the week proposed allowing the populist leader to seek re-election for an unlimited number of consecutive terms. This was something Evo’s idol in Venezuela was able to pass earlier this year.

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